"Pictures by Women": A History of Modern Art

A Gathering of Women with Cameras
At MoMA

Pictures by Women: A History of Modern Photography

May 7, 2010–March 21, 2011

The Edward Steichen Photography Galleries, third floor

For much of photography’s 170-year history, women have expanded its roles by experimenting with every aspect of the medium. Pictures by Women: A History of Modern Photography presents a selection of outstanding photographs by women artists, charting the medium’s history from the dawn of the modern period to the present. Including over two hundred works, this exhibition features celebrated masterworks and new acquisitions from the collection by such figures as Diane Arbus, Berenice Abbott, Claude Cahun, Imogen Cunningham, Rineke Dijkstra, Florence Henri, Roni Horn, Nan Goldin, Helen Levitt, Lisette Model, Lucia Moholy, Tina Modotti, Cindy Sherman, Kiki Smith, and Carrie Mae Weems, among many others. The exhibition also highlights works drawn from a variety of curatorial departments, including Bottoms, a large-scale Fluxus wallpaper by Yoko Ono.

Julia Margaret Cameron (1867)          Gertrude Kasebier (1899)

Ilse Bing (1931)

Tina Modotti (1926)

Cindy Sherman, 2010

Kineke Dijkstra, 2008

Helen Levitt, 1981

Courtesy of MoMA
On view at MoMA via the NYTimes / slideshow